🎵Music🎵
Alright, good evening everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Let's all make our way inside and find a seat. Let's grab a song book.
Open that song book up to song number 56,
When We All Get To Heaven.
And let's all stand together for this first song, If You Are Able.
Song 56, When We All Get To Heaven.
Everyone all together nice and strong on that first verse.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus.
Sing his mercy and his grace.
In the mansions bright and blessed.
He'll prepare for us a place,
When we all get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky.
But when traveling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sight.
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving every day.
Just one glimpse of him in glory,
Will the toys of life repay.
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Onward to the prize before us,
Soon his beauty will be whole.
Soon the pearly gates will open,
We shall tread the streets of gold.
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Amen. Let's open our servers with a word of prayer.
Father, thank you, God, Lord, so much, God, for allowing us, Lord, to be here tonight.
Lord, hear your word preached unto us, God, that we could come together, Lord,
and congregate, sing these praises unto you, God. I pray, Lord, that you would bless the service, Lord,
the subject of it, Lord, fill pasture with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches to us, God,
and be with us, Lord, that we would be edified, Lord, and leave here differently than when we came in.
Lord, we love you, God. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Song number 159,
blessed be the name.
Song 159,
blessed be the name.
Everyone, all together, nice and strong on that first verse.
All praise to him who reigns above
in majesty's supreme,
who gave his Son for men to die,
that he might men redeem him.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
His name above all names shall stand,
exalted more and more,
at God the Father's own right hand,
where angels host the door.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
Redeemer, Savior, friend of man,
once ruined by the fall,
Thou hast devised salvation's plan,
for Thou hast died for all.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
His name shall be the Counselor,
the mighty Prince of Peace,
of all earth kingdoms conquerors,
whose reign shall never cease.
Amen.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
blessed be the name of the Lord.
All right, great singing.
Thank you for being here this evening.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be song number 139,
I Know Whom I Have Believed.
139, if you want to get that ready in your songbook.
So if you did not get a bulletin,
go ahead and raise your hand
and one of the ushers can get one for you.
Important information on there along with the prayer bulletin.
Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening.
It's at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock,
currently going through the book of Matthew.
And so good to see you here this evening.
You see the so many times and teams,
the list of expecting mothers, if you can keep them in prayer.
And then the important reminders there at the bottom.
Please make sure you give heed to that.
The upcoming church events Barstow so many resumes on Monday, May 1st.
The difference is actually that we're not going to go to Barstow.
OK.
And the reason for that is because my wife and Ulysses' wife,
they're due on the same day and it's around this time.
And so if the evangelists and the pastor go to Barstow
and our wives give birth, we're in a lot of trouble.
OK.
So we're going to stick around here for the sake of our wives.
And so just keep that in mind.
We're still going to do this on Mondays.
But after the babies come, obviously, you know,
we're going to be going to Barstow thereafter.
And so we'll meet here at approximately 1130 or so and we'll head out.
We'll still have dinner.
We'll still do all that.
And so just keep that in mind.
If you have any questions, you can see Brother Ulysses Hernandez.
But pray for our wives and just that they would have a safe delivery,
that everything would go well.
And then the men's prayer night is coming up on Friday, May 5th.
We'll also have dinner for that.
And then Mother's Day is coming up Sunday, May 14th.
We will have a gift for all the moms.
And so I want to encourage you to bring your mom or someone's mom on that day.
We're looking forward to a great service.
A sermon would be geared towards the mom on that morning.
And then, as I mentioned, we're going to have a gift for all the mothers as well.
End of school picnic is coming up on Tuesday, May 30th.
We'll give you more details as we approach that.
And then you see the regular reminders there at the bottom.
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
Let's go ahead and pull out your bulletin, your prayer bulletin there.
Just go over that briefly.
Of course, continue to pray for our church corporately.
Pray for God's favor, for the soul-winning teams and the missions.
Please keep Belize in prayer, especially for our trip in November.
We're planning to go out there and hold a preaching service and see what may come of that.
Potentially have some baptisms.
And so we're looking forward to doing some soul-winning there and having a preaching service.
And we're also keeping in contact with the converts from these last couple trips up until November,
reminding them of the preaching service there.
So keep that in prayer.
Pray for spiritual numerical growth, new people in our church, for the leadership, pastors in training, and of course for those in authority.
And then you see just the general prayer requests of different church members.
We've shortened it a little bit.
Some prayers have been answered.
So by the way, do us a favor.
If you see your prayer on here, a request that you had on here, and it's been answered, please make sure you notify Brother Ulysses so we can remove it.
And then also so we can announce, hey, this prayer was answered, and just keep the church posted on that.
If you have any additional prayer requests that you'd like to be mentioned, you can put that at the bottom there.
Tear that off.
Put it into the offering plate.
And we'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week, all right?
And that is it for the GEOs going to come on up and pray over these needs.
All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord.
Thank you for the safety that you provided us in our week, Lord, and traveling to and from church and our day-to-day lives, Lord.
We pray tonight, Lord, that we have your continual favor on our church, that you continue to bless our church,
and every aspect of it, Lord, that the preaching and the soul-winning, we see a lot of people saved, Lord.
We also want to pray for the soul-winning teams and the team leaders, Lord.
We pray that you continue to guide them and use them as they train up the new people and the new soul-winners that come in, Lord,
that they continue to disciple them and train them so they can become fishers of men, Lord,
and that they can see a lot of souls saved as well.
Lord, we also want to pray for the mission strip and to keep Belize in prayer during this time, Lord,
that the door remains open and that the converts, that we can keep in touch with them and build relationship with them
so that when we go in November, Lord, that we can have a preaching service and hopefully it'll be a great turnout
and we can have a lot of souls saved, Lord.
I also want to pray for the protection of our church and the church families, Lord,
that we just pray that as we're in this time of peace that we continue to be protected, Lord,
and that as the church members go to and from church in our daily lives, Lord,
we just pray that you continue to keep us safe as we travel and that our services,
that we continue to be safe from any protesters or any wicked people, Lord.
We also want to pray for the spiritual and miracle growth and more labor, Lord,
as we have these events that come up like the Easter service and the Mother's Day service
that when we get a lot of new visitors, Lord, we pray that they stay plugged into church and they start growing, Lord,
and most importantly, they grow spiritually, Lord, and as they start reading their Bible and start coming to church
and start learning how to go soul-winding, Lord, we just pray that you continue to keep them in church, Lord,
and that they can also invite people to come with them as well.
Lord, we also want to pray for the leadership of our church.
We want to pray for Pastor Mejia and his family and Brother Ulysses that as they run the church
and as they serve you, Lord, that we continue to bless them and keep them safe
and to help them do this great work for you.
Lord, we also want to pray for the salvation of our unsaved family members and our friends, Lord.
We've all got people unsaved in our lives, Lord, that we would love to have them saved
and to know how easy it is to go to heaven, Lord, and we just pray that if they haven't heard the Gospel
or maybe they're unreceptive to it, that you humble them, Lord, whatever it takes,
and you bring them to the foot of the cross and that they can get saved and get that free gift settled today.
We also want to pray for the families to grow and the barren women.
Do any women that the womb is not open unto them, Lord, we pray that you just open their womb,
that they could have children, Lord, and we can continue to fill your house, Lord,
and that we can add to the list of all of our expecting mothers.
We also want to pray for the current mothers that are expecting, Lord, and all the newborns and the new babies, Lord.
We just pray that you continue to bless them and to raise them and to have them grow and be strong.
Lord, we just pray that everything goes well there.
And lastly, we just pray for Pastor Mejia tonight, Lord, that you fill in with your spirit,
so that he can preach your word that he prepared for us today boldly,
and that it can be edifying for us in the congregation.
And we just pray that we have ears to hear, Lord.
And we pray this now in Jesus' name. Amen.
We can turn to your third song, which will be song number 139,
I Know Whom I Have Believed.
All right, song 139, I Know Whom I Have Believed.
Everyone all together nice and strong on that first verse.
I know not why God's wondrous grace to me He hath made known,
nor why unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for His own.
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart,
nor how believing in His word brought peace within my heart.
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day.
I know not how the Spirit moves convincing men of sin,
revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in Him.
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day.
I know not what of good or ill may be reserved for me
of weary ways or golden days before His face I see.
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day.
I know not when my Lord may come at night or noonday fair,
nor if I walk the veil with Him or meet Him in the air.
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day.
Amen. This time the ushers collect the offering.
Tonight will be in Matthew chapter number 4.
Matthew chapter number 4.
Good evening. We're in Matthew chapter 4.
And the Bible reads,
Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward in hunger.
And when the tempter came to him, he said,
If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city,
and setteth him up on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him,
If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written,
He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,
and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and am only shalt thou serve.
Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee,
and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum,
which is upon the sea coast, and the borders of Zebulun and Nephthalim,
that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
The land of Zebulun, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea,
Beyond Jordan, Galilee, of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light,
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light sprung up.
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter,
and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother,
in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
They immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
And Jesus went about old Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.
And his fame went throughout all Syria.
And they brought unto him all people that were sick with diverse diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic,
and those that had the palsy, and he healed them.
And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis,
and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the King James Bible, dear God.
Thank you for this wonderful church you've given us.
Thank you for our pastor, and please bless him as he preaches your word unto us tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in Matthew chapter 4 this evening,
and we'll continue our Bible study with the book of Matthew.
And now we're getting into the ministry of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew,
but as we're going to see in just a little bit, the ministry started a lot before that.
And so we're going to initially start talking about, first and foremost,
the temptations of Jesus Christ here from verses 1 through verse 11.
And one thing that we see here is that after he's baptized by John the Baptist,
the Bible says in verse 1 that he's led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And we see, of course, this is the famous temptations of Christ, three temptations of Christ.
And a couple things that we can learn from this particular passage,
or the fact that he's being tempted, is the Bible tells us that Jesus is tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin.
And so we know that Jesus Christ is acquainted with grief.
He knows the temptations and the trials that we face.
We know that he's without sin, and he's faced a lot of tests and trials while he was here on this earth.
And so the Bible tells us,
The Bible tells us,
So we can have assurance based upon the temptation of Christ,
based upon the temptations that our brethren have faced,
that when we go through a time of testing where Satan is attacking us,
where we're going through a difficult trial, a fire in our life,
we can go through it and make it out and come out, as Job said, as gold.
Because of the fact that Jesus Christ has suffered those things.
He's acquainted with our grief.
He has suffered in like manner, yet without sin.
And the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, for example,
that when we are running this race that we would refer to as the Christian life,
we're to lay aside every way and the sin that doth so easily beset us.
And we are to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And this is a great way to look unto Jesus as we look at the fact that he suffered
and went through these temptations as we will experience in our lifetime.
So he goes into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Verse 2 says,
Now I want you to notice that it doesn't say that he told people that he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.
This is the narrator speaking here.
And this isn't something that Jesus Christ was going around letting everyone know that he did this.
And obviously we're going to see later on in Matthew chapter 6
the reason why you shouldn't tell people that you're fasting for spiritual reasons
is because in order for you to receive that reward of the prayer that you're asking,
you're not supposed to kind of announce those things.
You're not supposed to blow a trumpet and announce that to everyone that that's what you're doing.
The reason I say this is because I personally know someone who is a pastor who basically did that.
He fasted literally for 40 days and 40 nights.
And then he went about telling the churches that he was preaching that that's what he did.
Now I'm not saying you can't tell people you're fasting if you're doing it for health reasons.
Sometimes people will say, yeah, I'm doing OMAD or I'm fasting and they're trying to get into ketosis.
They're trying to become fat adapted.
Or just to clarify their mind a little bit so they stop eating.
But when it comes to spiritual matters, because typically fasting is in conjunction with prayer.
So when you fast, you're supposed to take the time that you would typically eat
and actually spend time in prayer asking God, petitioning God, requesting for the things that you desire.
And so that's how fasting works.
But if you go out and tell everyone that you're fasting, well that kind of defeats the purpose.
And one reason that people will do this is because like the Pharisees, they want the praise of man more than the praise of God.
And look, not everyone actually who wants people to know that they're fasting will tell people that they're fasting.
They'll just also do like the Pharisees and just have long faces and just kind of be like, what's wrong? Nothing.
I can't tell you because I don't want to lose my reward.
They kind of have this hyper spiritual attitude.
It says to anoint your face or to anoint your head and wash your face and not to appear unto men like you're fasting.
And so this is obviously an extreme case here.
This is Jesus Christ who chose to fast for four days and forty nights because he's going into spiritual warfare right here.
OK. Verse number three says, And when the tempter, who's the tempter? It's Satan, right?
Came to him, he said, If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Now Satan has a lot of different names, and one of them is the accuser of the brethren, for example.
One of them is the old serpent, the devil.
But another one of the names of Satan is tempter because that's exactly what he does.
He essentially comes into our life via his demons, his demonic hierarchy, so to speak, to come and places in a test.
And obviously we know based upon the Book of Job, different passages in the Bible, that when we face a trial,
when we face a temptation, it's not like God doesn't know about it.
It doesn't catch God off guard.
It's not like he doesn't know like, Oh, man, that took me for a loop. I didn't know you were going through this.
Why didn't you pray or something?
God knows every single temptation.
He knows the attacks of Satan upon your life because of the fact that he's the one who gives permission for Satan to come and attack your life.
Why would God do that?
Well, because of the fact that Satan is on a short leash, you understand?
Obviously Satan is our adversary.
He does not have our best interests in mind.
And when he wants to destroy our lives, our resources, our health, our ministry, whatever it may be,
before he does anything, he has to put a P.O. in, okay?
So what does that mean? He has to get permission to actually do it.
It's not like he could just like do it on his own and start attacking on his own.
No, he needs permission from the higher-ups, God himself, to actually do it.
And we have an example of that in the Book of Job.
You know, the Bible says that he, as a lion, walketh about seeking who he may devour.
And once he finds them, he accuses them before God and seeks an occasion against you, against myself.
You know, Jesus told Peter, Satan hath a desire to sift you as wheat, okay?
But I pray for thee that thy faith fill not.
So obviously there's instances where Satan seeks an occasion against the brethren, but he needs permission from God.
But he's called the tempter because he comes and he places temptation before us,
or he's used of God to place us in a time of trial and testing, okay?
But we see here that he tempts Jesus Christ with three specific things, one of them being food.
Obviously Jesus Christ has been fasting, and even though he's 100% God, he's also 100% man, therefore he feels hunger.
And he's hungry, he hasn't been nourished in 40 days and 40 nights.
And so you know what? When you're fasting, anything sounds good, even bread, right?
And I'm sure, of course, Jesus Christ, because he's God, if he wanted to, he could turn the stones into bread.
And in fact, in the previous chapter, we read that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
So he can take inanimate objects and just create things, and Satan obviously understands this.
Why is he telling Jesus Christ to do this? Because he knows that Jesus is the creator, okay?
He is the word of God by which all things consist, all things are made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made, the Bible says.
So he has the ability to do this, and he's tempting him with the flesh, okay?
This is what the Bible talks about in 1 John 2, the lust of the eyes, desiring food in time of spiritual warfare here.
And verse number 4 says, And he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.
So he's trying to tempt Jesus Christ to essentially capitulate in his time of fasting and just kind of give in to his fleshly desires, right?
But instead, Jesus Christ, of course, what does he do? He just starts speaking in tongues, right?
He starts flailing and shaking and falling on the ground and just doing all this weird stuff. No, what does he use? The Bible is what he uses.
You know, the word of God uses the word of God to fight temptation.
He doesn't do what these deliverance ministries do, you know? He didn't slap Satan on the forehead.
You know, spiritual warfare for Jesus wasn't like he's pulled out a sword and you just start hacking him to pieces or something.
You know, what did he do? He used the word of God because the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword,
and it pierces even to the dividing of center of soul and spirit, joints of the marrow, and is a discernment of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
And in fact, the Bible specifically says in Ephesians 5, when talking about the armor of God, which are all defensive type of things that we wear, spiritually speaking,
the last thing he wants you to have is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, because we quench all the fiery darts of Satan with the shield of faith.
But you know what? God doesn't always want us to be on the defense. He also wants us to be on the offensive as well.
And the way we're on the offensive is by using the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, okay?
And obviously in times of temptation, you don't necessarily need to listen to your favorite song, okay?
You don't need to have some sort of emotional experience. You basically need two things, one being prayer, right?
And two being the word of God. But you know, that's not enough for these deliverance ministries.
The Bible's not enough for them, because the Bible doesn't make them feel all tingly inside.
It doesn't put them in a state of consciousness where they just are mindless, where their senses are completely dulled,
because the mind is an obstacle to discovering a higher level of themselves like these mystic Hindus are.
They want to feel something, right? They want to get the tingling sensation and the burning in the bosom,
and they want to see visions, because it's all carnal with them, you know?
But you know what the Bible says? This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
That's what the Bible says. I mean, what is Satan trying to appeal to Jesus to? Bread, that which is physical.
And what did Jesus hit him back with? The Bible. Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.
Basically saying, you know, I have meat that you know not of. Satan, he's fighting him with the word of God.
And you know what? When you're in a time of temptation, when you're going through a difficult trial, you're going through fire,
you know, it's good for you to quote some scripture. In order for you to quote scripture, you either got to,
number one, memorize that scripture, or two, be very familiar with that scripture, because you're reading the Bible on a constant basis.
Don't take the word of God for granted, and think to yourself, well, I don't need the Bible, you know, I just need to make sure I have a good relationship with God.
There is no good relationship with God outside of you reading his word. If you love me, keep my commandments.
If we're going to have true communion with God, it's not a feeling that you should be chasing or pursuing, it's the Bible, my friends.
And look, I can't tell you how many times in my personal life I went through a trial, or I was going through a difficult fire, a difficult time,
and I had to not just quote scriptures, but meditate upon scriptures.
Because there's instances when you're going through a trial in your life and you doubt, right?
Those fiery darts of doubt start coming, and you start doubting the love of God, you start doubting God's provision, you start doubting God's protection,
you start doubting that God's actually going to come through, fill in the blank, right?
And what do you need? You need the Bible to reaffirm his promises and say, you know what, this is what the Bible says,
I need to cast down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Look, your imaginations can take you for a loop. Man, your imaginations are wild.
It can get you to quit church, it can create an enemy out of nothing, it can create all types of fears and doubts.
I mean, let's just be honest with ourselves tonight, okay?
That which you greatly fear, I mean, you can go down a really dark, deep hole into the future, right?
Or it's just like, you know, you miss the payment or something, and then you go 10 years in, you're like dead or something, it's just like, my family's suffering, I don't know what I'm going to do.
It's like, well, first of all, none of it's happened, right?
He's like, yeah, but it could happen. I mean, can it really, though?
And even if it can, don't you think that God can provide?
It's just like, man, all these shootings and all these things are taking place, what if it happens here?
Yeah, but what if it doesn't, though?
And also, I mean, don't you think God can protect us?
Yeah, but we got to do our part, though, you know?
We got to make sure that we, and look, I'm not against having weapons and guns, you know, we're Christians,
so I believe 100% that Christians have the privilege given to us by God to own weapons.
I mean, Jesus said himself, you know, sell your coat and buy two swords, amen?
I'm all for it. What I'm not for is Christians depending on that more than the protection of God.
And here's everyone's favorite verse to use.
Horses are prepared against the day of battle, but safety's of the Lord, brother.
And if I had a dime for every time I heard a Christian say that, you know, you'd say, well, isn't it the truth, though?
Of course it's the truth. It's their interpretation that's wrong, though.
Because what they mean by that is, you know, oh, we're supposed to prepare with the magazines and the clips and all these things,
but we know the safety's of the Lord, though, okay?
But, you know, what that verse actually could mean is horses are prepared against you against the day of battle.
Your enemy might be preparing against you in the day of battle, but at the end of the day, safety's of the Lord.
Because the Bible also says there are those that trust in chariots and they trust in horses, but we shall trust in the Lord, understand?
And over and over again, we see in the Old Testament, my friends,
that God will often condemn his people for placing their trust in carnal things rather than in the Lord their God, okay?
So, you know what? You have your 9mm, amen. Good. I mean, I got a Milly, you know?
I don't got it on me right now, but I got a Milly.
And I know people in our church for sure have guns, okay?
And not just like guns, they have those crazy stuff, that crazy stuff, okay?
I don't want to incriminate anybody here, you know what I mean? Just a rumor, I guess.
But you know what? You better be depending on God and his safety, because at the end of the day, you know what?
My Milly is not going to deliver me if God just removes the hedge of protection from my household and my life.
Because you know what? There's no amount of weapons in the world that can protect me from God.
Look, we're not talking about God though, Pastor, we're talking about like the devil.
Yeah, but the devil works for God though.
So if God wants to destroy my life, he hires Satan to do it.
He basically says, all right, this is what you can do to him, you can ruin his health, you can have him get beat up,
you can have all these things happen to him, I give you permission.
So it's better to just fear the Lord thy God. Oh wait, isn't that what the Bible says?
Fear God, because at the end of the day, it's God who determines what happens to you, okay?
But what I'm saying is, you know, it'd be good if you're fearing, who's fearing, amen, Brother Jose?
If you're fearing, Brother Jose's favorite line there, who's fearing?
If you're fearing, instead of investing in bullets, invest in these bullets, amen?
Memorizing the scriptures, reading the Bible, increasing your faith in God.
Because here's the thing, all the guns in the world, you can have the biggest artillery in the world, but you still can't have the peace of God.
The peace of God that passes with understanding.
And so I'd rather have the peace of God in my life and just live kind of just serving God without a care in the world because God's in control,
than having to look over my shoulder everywhere I go because I'm afraid that these liberals are going to cat me or something.
And by the way, here's the thing, this is what I told someone in our church, I told them this.
I said, if they come and they take our lives, I mean, wouldn't that be like the best thing that can happen to us?
If we die for the Lord? I mean, what's wrong with that?
You get to be a martyr. You got to have a better resurrection.
And I told them, I said, but at the end of the day, this is not going to happen because God actually provides deliverance, real deliverance.
Not this foaming on the ground and all that stuff, you know.
I'm talking about the real stuff, the real deal, okay?
And so we need to increase our faith by going to the Bible, okay?
Reading the scriptures. Hey, how about this?
Turning off the news, turn off the social media outlets, the Daily Caller or whatever it may be,
whatever Republican outlet you listen to or Libertarian outlet you listen to,
whatever news outlet you listen to that's causing you to fear so much and become afraid,
why don't you actually go to God's outlet and actually read the Bible?
Well then we're not going to have understanding of the times.
Just read the Bible. That's all you need.
And obviously I'm not saying just be completely ignorant of the things that are going on around you.
I'm just saying there's a lot of people who don't want to be ignorant about those things,
but then they delve into what's going on in the world and it just drives them mad.
It drives them crazy. It causes them to be fearful.
And you know what? Then their God becomes very small and the cares of this world become very big.
I don't care what's going on in this world. I don't care if whatever happens in China causes the dollar to crash.
I don't care how many violent things are happening in this world.
I have the God of the Bible. You say, yeah, but that's in the Bible, but this is 2023.
Yeah, and He's going to be here long after I'm gone.
These things are still true today, my friends.
And so we need to quit fearing. Quit fearing the future.
Quit being afraid of what man can do unto you, what resources man can take from you, what harm man can do unto you.
We need to start fearing God and having faith in His word and saying,
Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Hey, that's a good verse to memorize, amen? You struggle a little financially?
That's all right. Man should not live by bread alone.
But you know what? I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed-begging bread. That's another verse.
And so Jesus Christ, He's very vulnerable here, physically speaking, and He handled this like a boss.
He's just like, Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
And we need to do the same. We need to fight the devil's wiles with the word of God and meditate upon the Bible, go through the promises of God.
And here's the thing. Sometimes people lose hope, and they could lose hope badly to the point where they're just kind of spinning their wheels
or they're just kind of going through the motions of the Christian life.
But they've essentially lost hope already. That's possible. Well, if that's you, just get back on track.
Get back into the Bible. Whatever temptation you're facing, some dude 100 years ago was going through the same thing, probably worse.
And he applied these principles, and he made it through with flying colors.
And I'm not downplaying how wicked this world is getting. It's getting really bad. I get it.
But I think we still have Jesus as our Savior, though. I think God is still in heaven. I think He's still watching over us.
I think we're still doing the Lord's work. I think the Bible still applies today.
I still think we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us, and we have the power of God and God's protection.
And look, when we went through our persecution, for example, I was probably the closest one in our church who was the closest to striving unto blood.
As far as violence coming to my door. And you know what? Nothing ever happened to me. Nothing ever happened.
So why? Did you pull out your milly? I never had the milly the entire time.
I mean, it was in my house, but I didn't pull it out. I didn't keep it on me or anything.
See, what did you do? I prayed. I would park my car, walk to my house, knowing full well someone could just come out and cap me.
And I said, Gay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
Because I have my shepherd with me. And every night I would pray that because deep down in my heart I was afraid.
I was afraid. I'm a human. But I thought to myself, Lord, if you want me to die now, then so be it.
But I hope I don't. I want to stay here so I can keep living the Christian life and being here with my wife and my kids and my church.
And you know what? He came through every single time, obviously, because I'm here right now. Without a scratch, my friends.
I'm just saying, you know, we need to put our faith once. Not only are we Christians, we're Baptists, my friends.
We're fundamental Baptists. This is the group that believes in the King James Bible way, man.
Let's move on here. Verse 5 says, Then the devil taketh them up into the holy city, and saideth them out in the pinnacle of the temple, and saideth to him,
If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
So what do we see? We see that Satan knows the Bible, too. But Satan, like a lot of these false prophets, always take the Bible out of context.
Because he's quoting scripture. Because, you know, he sees Jesus quoting scripture. He's like, okay, I'm going to quote scripture, too.
I mean, but it's Jesus, though. He is the Word of God. Hey, He is the context.
So what is he quoting? He's quoting Psalm 91, okay? Because Psalm 91 talks about this, and it's definitely true.
The difference is, the answer that he gives him here in verse 7, he says, Jesus said unto him, It is written, Again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Because in Psalm 91, when it says that the angels shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against the stone, it's referring to persecution.
It's referring to you being placed in a position that's outside of your control, where you're being persecuted.
People are trying to fight you, or they're trying to harm you for living a godly life or serving God.
And if they throw you off a cliff or something, you know, if God has to, He'll send His angels to bear thee up.
This is not that situation, though. He's trying to get Jesus Christ to just, based upon that promise in Psalm 91,
to just go tempt God and say, well, God said He'll do it anyway, so I'm just going to cast myself off, and it's going to happen or something.
And when he says, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, he's actually quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 16,
that talks about not tempting the Lord thy God, but it specifically says that the children of Israel chided with Moses,
and therefore they were tempting the Lord their God.
So the type of temptation that God is against, when it comes to His people, is when we reproach God by saying,
well, God, you say you're going to protect us, I'm just going to throw myself off, and you better do it because that's what you said or something.
Obviously that's chiding, that's reproach God. However, God does want us to tempt them in certain areas, though.
He said, what do you mean? You know, when it comes to His promises, He wants us to essentially ask Him and say,
hey, you said you would do this, therefore I expect for you to do it.
You say, give me an example. Well, you know, when Elijah went into heaven and Elijah stayed, he says, where is the God of Elijah?
He's not being disrespectful towards God, he just is calling on God because of the fact that he knows that God will come through,
but he's saying, you said you would use me, you said this is the purpose why I'm here, and this is the promise that Elijah gave,
therefore, where is the God of Elijah? So there's nothing wrong with you serving God, winning souls, doing that which is right inside of the Lord.
And if you're struggling, say, Lord, I need you to provide, and I'm going to expect for you to have food on the table, to have the rent paid,
my bills paid, and everything that I need because you said the righteous shall not be forsaken.
And I'm doing everything I can to serve you, I'm winning souls, I'm being in church, I'm leading my family, so I'm just going to expect for you to provide for me.
That's not tempting the Lord thy God with chiding, that's placing the promises of God before the Lord and saying,
this is what you said, I'm going to believe it, so I'm just going to expect it. Amen?
Now a lot of people are afraid to talk to God like that, that's only because they don't have a prayer life.
You ever notice that people that you're really close to, you have a tendency to get a little more rough with them sometimes,
a little more honest with them, people that you're not very acquainted with very well, you know, in church, you're basically, you know,
it's kind of surface level conversation, right? But if you're really close to them, you can tell them, like, hey dude, you're getting fat, bro.
Right? You can say that, right? You can say, hey man, do you get fat?
And you're not afraid of offending them or anything like that because you're close to them, right?
You know, I have a couple of people in the church that I would say that I'm close to in that way, you know,
Ulysses being one of them, because he works for me obviously, but I've decided with Ulysses for years, and I can be brutally honest with Ulysses.
Okay? Because we've had deep conversations, we've had very deep conversations, very deep fellowship, and I'm very close to him,
and so we can just kind of talk to each other in a way that's, you know, it's a different level, okay?
I'm the same thing with my wife, you know? I can have deep conversations, I should have deep conversations with my wife,
I do have deep conversations with my wife because we're close, we're friends.
Well, I'm saying, you know, when it comes to the prayer life, that's how it should be.
You know, if people are afraid to talk to God that way, one, you're actually not serving God,
and so you feel like I can't talk to God that way because I can't, I'm not really fulfilling my responsibility,
or two, you are fulfilling your responsibility, but you need to pray more and just have that fellowship with the Lord,
there comes a point in your prayer life that you have to kind of like yearn, and kind of break a little bit, you know?
Where it's not repetitive, right? You're not just repeating the same thing over and over again,
you're actually talking to God like, you know, like, I don't know, like He's real.
And just like actually pray and just say like, Lord, you know, I'm really mad right now.
I'm upset, I'm offended, I'm bitter, you know, or Lord, I'm afraid, I'm scared, or I'm struggling with this.
Because here's the thing, at the end of the day, everything you tell the Lord, He already knows, right?
When you ask Adam where art thou, it's not like he didn't know.
You know, it's not like he didn't know his GPS or something, like he knows everything.
He wants a confession though, right?
Sometimes we just need to go before the Lord and say, and just be brutally honest with Him,
which makes for good fellowship, which makes for boldness, and in fact, listen to this,
the Bible tells us that we can come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in a time of need,
and it says we can boldly come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in a time of need.
What does boldly mean? Like, you know, you just kind of step up, obviously humbly,
but boldly, based upon the promises of God and say, I need help, couldn't make the payment.
So, I need you to like, pay that.
And I have instances in my personal life with my family that we've done things like that,
and you know what, God came through every single time.
And I was stressing about certain things, and it's just like,
I guess God's just going to have to take care of it.
So, I need you to do it, Lord.
And even times in our church when that's happened, and I just have to say,
Lord, I need you to take care of it. I can't do anything about that.
I'm serving you. You know, I'm standing for the truth.
I'm trying to put myself on the front lines here.
I'm trying to do what many pastors are afraid to do.
I'm preaching. I'm winning souls. I'm leading my family, so provide for this,
and I'll expect to see it, because you said you would do it.
And He's come through every single time.
I'll give you an example, and by the way, sometimes when I've prayed that,
He doesn't give me the specific thing that I asked for.
Sometimes it'll be better, or it'll be just what I need.
But going back to the whole protest, I remember the Sunday when all that nonsense was going to happen,
I was just like, man, I'm kind of beside myself trying to figure out what we're going to do,
because we don't want to look at Tranny. I don't want my kids to look at Tranny.
And we're coming up with all types of things, and it's just like...
And then I remember Brother Albert was just like, we should just go to church,
because we're going to build walls. I mean, we were trying to do a lot of things,
and Brother Albert was just like, let's just go to church.
I'm like, yeah, let's just do that, because this is too stressful to think about this stuff.
But then I started reading in Psalms, and I started reading about David,
how he was being persecuted, and how God rained down hailstones upon his enemies.
And I was like, that's it. That's what he's going to do.
I was like, cool. Sunday he's going to rain hailstones upon the enemies.
He's going to just destroy them.
And honestly, I'll be 100% honest with you, I expected that 100%.
Because as soon as I read that, I had just peace.
And some of you in here are like, oh, brother, you really thought that was going to happen?
Oh, yeah, I really had faith in the Bible. Yeah, I did.
You think he would do that for you? I mean, why not?
Is that weird or something, or what?
But it's never really happened. What do you mean, it happened in the Bible?
You're weird.
I read that, and I was like, cool. God's going to take care of it.
And you know what? Something better happened.
They bombed the church, and then we were able to get a brand new building.
So I think God still answered the prayer.
Now, obviously, I would have liked to have seen my specific prayer answer.
But God works in mysterious ways.
But what I'm saying is, it's okay to tempt God in that manner.
It's just in this manner that it's obviously not right to do.
And I need to hurry up, because I still got a lot to cover.
Verse 8 says,
And of course, in the book of Luke, the parallel passage says that he shows them these things in a moment of time.
But we don't know exactly how this looked. We don't know if he took them into a mountain,
and he just gave them a panoramic view of all the kingdoms.
He was obviously able to show him some sort of visual aid of all these kingdoms that he's ruling over,
because Satan is the god of this world.
He's the prince of power of the air, and he's puppeteering a lot of the rulers of this world.
He essentially gave them their position, so to speak.
So he's tempting Jesus Christ with the pride of life.
And verse 10 says,
So even in his most vulnerable state, physically speaking, Jesus Christ was still powerful in his humanity,
with 40 days and 40 nights of fasting, because of the fact that he's using God's word.
So if Jesus is using the Bible to overcome the wiles of Satan,
how much more do we need to use the Bible?
How much more do we need to quote scripture?
How much more do we need to read the Bible?
How much more do we need to depend on the promises of God when we go through these trials?
It's obviously an example unto us to see that this is necessary.
Verse 11 says,
The last thing I want to mention regarding that is that when you resist Satan, he will flee from you.
So what's important, folks, especially babes in Christ, people who are new to the faith,
you're going to be tempted of Satan.
He's going to fight you on something, he's going to bring up temptations in your life,
and you have to resist, resist, resist, resist, resist with the word of God, and eventually he flees.
But it doesn't work if you resist and you give in, and you resist and you give in, and you resist and you give in,
you resist and you give in.
It doesn't work that way.
Then he doesn't flee.
He flees when you just push back, you push back, you resist, you resist.
And the Bible doesn't say flee from him.
It says you need to resist him and he'll flee from you.
The only thing the Bible does say is draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you.
So as we resist Satan, we need to make sure that we're drawing nigh unto God.
You're like, well, that's a lot.
Yeah, it's called spiritual warfare.
I mean, this is what it takes to win battles against Satan.
And it's uncomfortable.
It goes against the desires of our flesh.
But, you know, you've got to be in like warfare mentality.
You just say, you know what?
I'm in a season of battling, and so I need to make sure that I'm resisting Satan.
I'm drawing nigh unto God.
I'm reading the Bible.
I'm writing scriptures on a three by five, keeping it in my coat pocket, pulling them out in a time of doubt.
Boom.
Right there.
You know, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
I know that I won't be forsaken.
I know that God's protecting me.
You know, the Bible says with all prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God that passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Be careful for nothing.
And just repeat that.
Say, Lord, you told me to be careful for nothing.
You told me to bring these things to you and prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Thank you for this trial.
Thank you for what I'm going through.
Help me to get through this.
And then you get the peace of God.
This is like warfare.
Understand?
But let me say this is that the Bible also says it doesn't say here in the parallel passage.
It states that he departed for a season.
So he doesn't depart permanently.
He just goes away for a while.
Okay.
And then he comes back and fights you some more.
I mean, this is the Christian life.
We're constantly in a battle.
Okay.
So those are the temptations of Jesus Christ.
Look at verse number 12.
It says, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.
Now, that beginning part was a lot of practicality, but I want to give you some information now.
Okay.
I want to give you some knowledge regarding what's taking place here.
Okay.
Because when you read each of the gospels, obviously the gospels individually are in chronological order based upon the perspective of the writer.
However, when you compare them with one another, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they're not necessarily chronological in the sense that some gospels will be missing major chunks of events that took place in other gospels.
Okay.
And if that went over your head, don't worry about it.
I'm just saying that when you read the gospels, you'll notice, like, how come it doesn't say that in the book of John?
Or how come the events of the book of John are not covered in the book of Matthew?
Obviously, these are from different perspectives, and it's still chronological, obviously.
However, the chronology of each gospel is based upon the writer's perspective.
Okay.
Now, the reason I say that is because when he overcomes the temptations of Satan, it says in verse 12 that he leaves, he departs into Galilee.
Obviously, he's in Nazareth, he's born in Bethlehem, but he grows up in Nazareth, and he wants to go into Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles.
Okay.
And, of course, we see here that he dwells in Capernaum, and it talks about the scripture in Isaiah from Isaiah chapter 9 about the Gentiles seeing this great light referring to Jesus Christ.
And it says in verse 17, this is a famous passage here.
It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven as at hand.
Now, I want to make a couple comments regarding this, okay.
Most people, a lot of people will say this, and I've heard this many times growing up as a Christian, that this is the first message that Jesus ever preached.
And it's often from people who believe in repenting your sins.
Like, this is their flex.
Like, what's the first thing that Jesus preached, you know?
And it's just like, you're referring to Matthew chapter 4, repent for the kingdom of heaven is in it.
Exactly!
That's the first thing he preached.
Now, first and foremost, we already talked about what that means last week.
Repent and believe the gospel when it says, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Obviously, it's referring to the fact that the word of God is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, even the word of faith which we preached.
That if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's just another way of saying, stop trusting in your dead works and place your faith in Jesus Christ.
Because the word is nigh thee, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it's nigh thee, okay.
So that's the first thing, okay.
But secondly, no, this is not the first thing that he preached.
Now it says in verse 17, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say.
So automatically, these people think, oh, from that point forward, that's when he began to preach.
But no, it means from that time that he went into Capernaum.
From the time that he went into Capernaum, he began to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He said, well, what's the first thing he preached?
Well, when you look at the timeline, the chronological order of the timeline of the gospels,
after he's tempted of the devil, and he overcomes that temptation,
for example, John chapter 1 all the way to about John chapter 4,
takes place and then you have Matthew chapter 4, verse number 12.
So the events from John chapter 1 to approximately John chapter 4,
happen before he actually goes and preaches the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He said, why is that like the necessary information?
And also, how do you know that?
Well, because of the fact that in John, the latter end of John chapter 3,
it states that John was not yet in prison.
Whereas here in verse number 12, John was already cast into prison and then he departed into Galilee.
So there you go, right?
So if you were to compare that with John, the events from John chapter 1 all the way to approximately John chapter 4,
have already taken place before he begins to preach at Capernaum,
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Now here's another important point in that regard,
because when he overcomes the temptations of Satan,
you have John preaching and he talks about his ministry,
he introduces his disciples to the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world.
He talks to Andrew and Peter, he renames Peter to Cephas, right?
He talks to Philip and Nathaniel.
But you know who he also talks to?
Nicodemus in John chapter 3.
You know the famous verse,
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
So chronologically, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand is not the first thing you preach.
The first thing you preach is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now here's the thing, both of them mean the same thing.
The difference is that Matthew is geared towards the Jews,
and because it's geared towards the Jews, a great emphasis is placed on the kingdom.
So talking about the kingdom resonates with the Jews,
because they're under that Roman authority there,
and so he's trying to grab their attention with the kingdom of God,
and kind of explain to them this is the most important kingdom to be a part of,
and the only way you're going to be a part of that kingdom is by believing on Jesus Christ.
Whereas the book of John is written to the world's audience, everyone else.
So therefore it's placed in very much layman's terms to say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in fact you have John 3.36,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So anytime someone says, what's the first thing that Jesus preached?
Say John 3.16, believe.
No, I mean in Matthew.
Oh you mean Matthew chapter 4, the events that took place after he said in John chapter 3?
Because John chapter 1 to John chapter 4 have already taken place by the time verse 12 pops up,
because John was not yet in prison.
So he was already, look, and by the way, you know,
John's talking, Jesus Christ has already won over Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel.
He's already turned the water into wine.
He's already, you know, preached the gospel to Nicodemus.
So all these things have already taken place.
And the reason that's important is because when you read the gospels,
you think to yourself, oh, this is the first time this happened, or this is the first time.
Like for example, look at verse 18.
Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother,
casting an end to the sea, for they were fishers.
And he said unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets and followed them.
So if you're not careful, you might think to yourself, wow,
this is like just the first time he met them.
He didn't tell them to believe or anything.
He just said, follow me.
I'll make you fishers of men.
And this is where this false gospel ends up coming about.
Where it's just like, no, he told the disciples to follow him.
Well, no, you might want to read John chapter 1,
highlighting the events that took place prior to this.
Because when he meets Peter and his brother Andrew at this point,
he had already encountered them in John chapter 1.
Because Andrew was actually a disciple of John the Baptist.
So he's with John the Baptist, and then they see Jesus and he says,
behold the Lamb of God who shall take away the sins of the world.
So then the disciples of John the Baptist ended up following Jesus Christ.
So then Andrew goes and gets Peter and says, hey, we found the Messiah.
He comes, and it's my personal belief that Peter was probably already saved at that point.
And he says, Peter, that shall be called Cephas.
And so he already encountered these disciples.
And what do these disciples do?
Do they just start following right away?
No.
In fact, they go back to fishing and mending their nets.
So what this tells us is that not everyone who gets saved right off the bat,
let's say Peter got saved at that point,
not everyone that gets saved right off the bat starts serving God right off the bat either.
Right?
Now that's an important point.
Because we want people that as soon as they get saved, they start serving God.
We want that.
And we try to create an environment and an atmosphere in our church
to get people plugged in right away and try to wean them on to the service of God.
Right?
But just know this, not everyone's going to do that.
Even if they had like Jesus there.
I mean, you would think like, wow, like Andrew, they're seeing the Christ and they're just like, wow.
And they just go fish.
Like I would have been like, I mean, I think I would be like that, but maybe not.
I would think to be like, I'm quitting my job today, by the way.
I already put in my notice and I'm not even going to notify them actually.
So I'm just going to be here.
And so what's next?
What are we doing?
But you know what?
That's probably not the reaction that we would probably have because Peter and Andrew, they went back to work.
They were just like, whoa, you know, and and Nathaniel is like tripping out.
He's just like, wow.
And then Jesus praising him for having this faith in whom there is no guile.
And then you just go back to do what they're doing.
They don't become fishers of men until later.
So just remember this, not everyone who gets saved right away starts serving God.
And in fact, not everyone who gets saved starts serving God.
Period.
How many of those people you got saved are actually serving God?
Well, let's look at the parable of the seed in the sower.
How about that?
Because out of the four seeds that were sown, only three got saved.
And out of the three that got saved, only one actually started producing fruit.
So God's trying to show us there's something there that although a lot of people are going to get saved, not everyone's going to start serving God.
And you know what?
Even if they start serving God, it might not be till later on.
I mean, I'm sure there's testimonies in this room of people who've been saved for a long time and they didn't start serving God until later on in their life.
They had some trial or they just had a season of the soul where they began to serve God.
Whatever reason, we see that with Peter and Andrew.
They became fishers of men.
And you know, Jesus is just telling them like, hey, you're kind of spinning your wheels there.
Why don't you come with me and actually do something that's actually worthwhile.
Now, obviously, this is a very much an isolated incident in a sense that, you know, God doesn't expect for people to just drop everything that they're doing, you know, and not pay the bills.
If you have a family, whatever, and start fishing for men, God expects us to do both.
Right.
Have a job, provide for the family, take care of those things and be a fisher of men.
This is obviously a very unique era where Jesus Christ God himself is here on this earth and he's calling them to do that.
OK, it says in verse 21 and going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother in a ship with Zebedee, their father mending their nets.
And he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him.
So let me just say these last couple of things by just concluding the sermon here is that, you know, the Bible says that they're mending their nets.
And it kind of makes me think that, you know, these guys, they're just kind of putting their nets together.
Maybe they're torn, they're ripped and they're just kind of trying to mend their nets.
And then he just calls them at that point.
And it's at that point that they decide to follow Jesus Christ and start serving God.
And you know what?
This is what my father-in-law would call like the season of the soul.
Because sometimes we run into people, we get them saved and they do get on fire for God right away.
That's because they're kind of broken, kind of like mending their nets.
They're kind of spinning their wheels.
Their marriage is falling apart.
You know, their children or whatever, you know, and maybe their health is falling apart.
They're just kind of mending their life, not realizing that the one who can put everything back together is God himself.
And so we see that with James and John.
They're just like, forget this, you know, and then you start following the Lord thereafter.
But I also want you to notice that they immediately did it.
And you know what God wants from us?
Is immediate obedience.
Not to be double-minded.
Because a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
God likes it when we jump in head first. Amen?
And when we make the decision for God, then we make it right away.
Don't be this kind of Christian who's just like, well, I'm going to start sewing, but I'll do it like next month.
No, immediately.
You know, hey, internet out there, don't be the kind of Christian that's just like, I'm going to go to First Works one day.
One day I'll be like, for sure, like a member.
Like, I'm just going to be, I'm going to be, that chair that I look at on the screen,
I'm going to be sitting right there next month.
Because next month never comes.
Come to church now.
Get your butt in church by Sunday.
You got a couple days.
Come to the church.
Be a part of it.
You know, actually be in person.
Stop being a virtual listener.
Obviously, if you're like in a different state or whatever, it's just different.
But if you live like right around the corner or something like that, you know, you're just like, oh, man, I'm just a little embarrassed, you know, because I've been living around the corner and I don't come or something like that.
Well, you know, you should be embarrassed if you just never come, though.
If you just stay that way, you should be embarrassed.
If you live like right across the street from us, you should be embarrassed.
But if you come, then you don't need to be embarrassed anymore because you came.
Simple.
And then you can actually sit in the chair that you've been looking at every service and you can meet the people from the YouTube.
Hey, you're the guy that song leads.
Hey, you're the guy that reads the Bible.
Hey, I know you.
You're from the podcast.
You can meet all these people and they realize that we're all normal.
And, you know, the guys on the podcast are not as cool as you thought that they were.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just joking.
Somewhat halfway joking.
Hey, you're Brother Ulysses.
Hey, you're so and so.
You know, you're like, wow, I'm actually here.
Yeah, welcome.
We're like a normal church.
We're real people.
Like, you know, fill my hands and put your hands, you know.
We're real.
But here's the point.
Do it immediately.
Don't say I'm going to start reading the Bible next week.
Do it immediately.
I'm going to start so many.
Do it immediately.
Oh, I'm going to start praying.
Do it immediately.
Smoking next week.
Do it immediately.
I'm going to stop, you know, committing this particular sin.
Just do it immediately.
Don't put it off.
Don't put it on your task list.
Say, you know, next week I'm going to serve God.
Do it immediately.
But what if I do.
Are you saying I have to just drop everything?
Like all my nets and just like do it.
Yeah.
The best way to go.
And so kudos to these guys, you know.
And unfortunately, you know, later on we see that Peter actually goes back to fishing, you know, because he's backslidden.
And but, you know, he doesn't catch anything, you know.
So even being a professional fisherman, he didn't catch anything because outside of God's will, you can't succeed.
Amen.
And so we finish up the chapter with Jesus going about Galilee, teaching in the synagogues.
He's preaching the gospel.
He's healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
And his fame begins to spread and people begin to bring to him people that are possessed with devils.
And let me finish with this point is that every person that Jesus Christ healed.
I'm talking about that he exercised the demon out of.
Here's a good summary of what happened to them.
They were sitting and clothed and in their right mind.
Not falling, frolicking and, you know, shaking like they're sizzling bacon or something like that.
Nowhere in the Bible.
And in fact, the only time actually.
Let me take that back.
I'm wrong.
The only time that that's actually found in the Bible is when people are possessed with the devil.
So these idiotic deliverance ministries.
And I don't care how many people get offended out there because so many people are offended.
I called out Isaiah Saldivar.
The guy's a reprobate.
He's a heretic.
And I'll go to the grave believing that because that guy is freaking weird.
I saw a sermon of him where he's just like he's like, I have a devil.
And he's talking about all these sodomite tendencies that he struggles with.
The guy's wicked.
The guy choked a girl because he's trying to like exercise her.
OK.
And he's like, I saw it in a movie where like they're opening the mouth and he's just like, get out of her.
He's like opening your mouth and he begins to choke her.
And then he's like and she turns blue because, you know, I'm choking her.
So he's strangling this person claiming that he's exercising the demon out of them.
I mean, folks, this guy is an abuser.
He's literally strangling this girl and his dad had to come and say, hey, you can't do this.
What are you doing?
You're like killing these people is what you're doing.
But you know what's funny?
You don't find that in the Bible.
I just I miss that verse where Jesus is strangling the demon out of some person.
I miss that verse where the apostles were opening the mouth and say, demon, come out of them.
You know why? Because it's never there.
This guy's an abuser.
He's a false prophet.
He's probably a sodomite, too.
Stinking reprobate.
You know, Jesus is healing these people who are possessed with devils and they're like back to normal.
They're not like, thank you, Jesus, you know, and just like shaking and flipping out and falling on the floor.
Whereas you see these videos of these people of these deliverance ministries.
They like slap them on the head and they just fall over and they just start doing the Harlem Shake on the floor or something.
That's not in the Bible.
Sitting in clothes and in his right mind.
What these people are doing, they're either charlatans or they're literally just transferring demons to each of the congregants or something.
And you know what?
I probably think that they're probably transferring demons because I'm sure Isaiah Saldivar is like a legion.
When you're doing stuff like that.
And let me just say this.
I put those videos out to expose Isaiah Saldivar hoping that people out there will just wake up to his nonsense.
But if after all that people still want to follow him, then you deserve that.
Because any normal human being can look at that and say, this guy is a criminal.
He's strangling people.
This is not of God.
She's turning blue.
You're killing her.
And so to hell with that guy.
Let him be a curse.
Let him be anathema.
He is getting his jollies off of abusing people and doing all that nonsense.
And you know what?
He's following in the footsteps of his predecessor, his spiritual predecessor, Lonnie Frisbee, who was a sodomite himself.
And you know, he was all about the deliverance ministry.
And when he died, when he died, they went through his things and they found a postcard of him that had a picture of all these men laying hands on someone trying to heal them.
And the caption read this.
It said, create spiritual, religious structures that allows you to touch the skin of men.
So tell me this.
Is he really laying hands on people because he wants to heal them?
Or is he just a freaking sodomite?
Because that's what the postcard said.
He's like, create these religious structures that allows you to touch the skin of men.
Oh, but they didn't put that in the Jesus Revolution movie now, did they?
You know, why don't you put that postcard as like the poster for the movie?
Tell you why.
Because then they wouldn't be making all that money.
Anyways, you know, I'm against deliverance ministries 100%.
And you know, them like the Pentecostals, they always pervert these things, you know.
So let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And we're thankful for true deliverance.
And the fact that we know that we've been delivered from hell through Jesus Christ.
And at least we're realistic and biblical about these things that we understand that this side of eternity,
we're not going to be delivered from the temptations of this world.
All of us still struggle.
We struggle with sin, with doubts, with fear, with the things of the flesh.
And we will always struggle until the second coming of Christ.
And this is why this deliverance doctrine is so wicked.
It's because it's teaching that people can be delivered from these things apart from Christ.
But we know that the resurrection provides incorruption to our corruptible flesh that plagues us on a daily basis.
And Lord, help us as your people to walk with you on a daily basis and to have the word of God as the final authority.
Help us to be like Peter and Andrew, James and John who followed the Lord immediately when the call was given.
And I pray that also that we be aware of the temptations of Satan who comes to us at different seasons
and tries to trip us up and destroy our marriages and destroy our children and destroy our personal lives.
Help us to be aware of these things and not to be ignorant of his devices.
And more than anything, I pray that you help us to be biblically based, Lord.
That we would remember the Scriptures in times of trials.
That we would be in awe of your Word and that pains and hurts of this life, the bitternesses that we face
would cause us to draw nigh into the Bible and to look for the answers there.
We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, we have one last song. Song 45, when I can read my title clear.
Song 45, when I can read my title clear. Everyone all together nice and strong.
Song 45, when I can read my title clear. Two mansions in the skies.
I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes.
And wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes.
I'll bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes.
Should earth against my soul engage and fiery darts be hurled.
Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning world.
And face a frowning world. And face a frowning world.
Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning world.
Let cares like a wild deluge come and storms of sorrow fall.
May I but safely reach my home, my God, my Heaven, my all.
My God, my Heaven, my all. My God, my Heaven, my all.
May I but safely reach my home, my God, my Heaven, my all.
There shall I bathe my weary soul in seas of heavenly rest.
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful breast.
Across my peaceful breast. Across my peaceful breast.
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful breast.